NBC changes mind: This Is Us won’t move to Thursdays this fall

After announcing to advertisers earlier this month that its breakout hit This Is Us will move from Tuesdays to Thursdays for its sophomore season this fall, NBC has decided to change its mind.

This Is Us will instead stay right where it is — on Tuesdays at 9 p.m.

Sources say the main reason for the decision change is that the show’s serialized storytelling would have been interrupted by NFL football coverage. Back on Tuesdays, the show will have a continuous run of nine or 10 episodes. In the first season, NBC didn’t have more than five episodes in a row before a pre-emption, so apparently, they want to stick to a roll-out plan that clearly is not broken.

Of course, NBC knew about its NFL schedule before the upfronts, too, so the reversal is still a bit curious. Fall schedules can and do change between upfronts and the season, but usually not so quickly or dramatically as this. “We went back and forth about [moving This Is Us to Thursday],” NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt told reporters earlier this month. “There’s a case to be made for keeping the show where it was. While it’s a little risky, there’s a bigger case to be made about redoing Thursday night.”

NBC is also moving its new Law & Order branded true crime miniseries The Menendez Murders to Tuesdays to retain its This Is Us lead-in.

On the competitive front, perhaps the most interesting thing about the move is that CBS’ Thursday night comedies Mom and Life in Pieces will now face NBC’s Will & Grace revival and Great News (and also gets Will & Grace away from facing The Big Bang Theory as well).

So here’s NBC’s new fall schedule — again!

MONDAY
8-10 p.m. — The Voice
10-11 p.m. — The Brave

TUESDAY
8 p.m. – The Voice
9 p.m. – This Is Us
10 p.m. – Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders